


Bathtub

by AuthorDude99



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Mental Instability, Post Far Harbor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-18 03:41:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18112553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorDude99/pseuds/AuthorDude99
Summary: After Far Harbor, the Sole Survivor is left wanting. Fortunately, she picked the right woman to fall in love with.





	Bathtub

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Fallout 4 and its associated installments are owned by ZeniMax Media, Bethesda Softworks and Bethesda Game Studios, none of which I'm associated with. This is a non-profit work and will be taken down at the request of any of the copyright holders.  
> This is a one-shot using a writing prompt writing by @falloutfanfictionprompts on Tumblr.

It had been a long few weeks. Hazel Martinson and Nick Valentine were brought out of the Commonwealth to Far Harbor in search of a missing person. Such a simple thing that sucked them into a complicated series of events that would require an uncomfortable level of subterfuge on their part. All in all, it was exhausting on Hazel’s part, as she had to do most of the heavy lifting as she wasn’t as conspicuous as her synthetic counterpart.

Once they returned to the Commonwealth, they returned the missing person, but this moment was barely registered on Hazel’s part. She destroyed two peoples live in Far Harbor so that the Children of Atom wouldn’t go on a holy war. She despised them, wanting to wipe them from the face of what was left of the Earth, but the alternative was the decided. No matter which she chose, it would surely weigh on her still.

Case closed, Hazel and Nick went back to Diamond City, the former using her rifle as a walking stick. The synthetic detective didn’t seem as physically drained as his counterpart, but even a strictly speaking human companion wouldn’t be as exhausted as her. The humid weather, the constant exposure to radiation and the particularly restless residences would individually beat down on anyone she brought, but few she could think of might be as uncomfortably with at all as her.

Hazel, despite everything, was not suited to life in the Wasteland. The constant violence and need to rely on other people often would grate on her. She was a lawyer before the War, but she spent much more time out of court than inside and would spend her time alone like a beggar with food money. The Wasteland was high maintenance and so was she.

“Listen,” Nick said as coldly empathic as he could, “I’ll handle things back at the agency. Take the rest of the day for yourself.”

Nick walked off the agency, leaving Hazel to herself. Even though she like little company, she was fond of just having someone around she truly liked. Being left tired and alone, even in a crowd, suffocates her heart. At least she knew what she wanted: full belly and a warm bed.

She caught a noodle cup at the market, learning Takahashi doesn’t respond to gestures in the process, and headed over to her house. She bought the place recently and it was expensive, but she wasn’t overly concerned with money as much as the comforts it allowed. Again, her entire person wasn’t overly suited to the Wasteland.

Imagine her surprise when she entered the house to see Piper Wright standing by a steaming bathtub. Some people would be outraged at this, as Piper never had a key to this place, but it barely registered with Hazel. Piper knew her way around a lockpick and was the best out of the people who would or could do this that she could find here.

“Welcome back, Blue,” the reporter said, a smile on her face.

Hazel gave a smile in return, the first she had all day. She started undressing herself of the Minutemen regalia that stunk of Far Harbor’s scent and left it where it fell. The bathtub was a personal project, as a it wasn’t too hard to build with time, but the materials for this to work were expensive.

Barefoot and with the last bit of armor to the side, Hazel fell into Piper’s arms. They had spent some time on the road together, running missions for the Minutemen and Railroad, but that who could’ve guessed that would lead to a relationship? After Nate’s death, her heart was slow to heal, but Piper was quick to stand beside her, was as quiet as Hazel was comfortable with when she needed it and came to love her like so few before.

Piper took off the last of her lover’s clothes and guided her to the tub. It had been a long time since she had a real bath instead of scrubbing herself with a washcloth. The hot water soothed her cold, aching body. It might have been an imitation of what was before the War, but it might as well have been Cloud Nine for how heavenly it felt.

If that wasn’t enough, Piper rolled her sleeves up and took a bar of soap to Hazel’s course skin. The dirt and muck fell off her body, make her let out a little noise of enjoyment. She would usually chastise someone for using a perfectly good source of rare oils for bathing instead of firearm improvement, but she had forgotten how good it felt. She would surely be more lenient in the future.

But still, the comforts of the body can only go so far. As her body felt its best in so long, her mind was still in dark places. The individuality of a person was lost to steal another’s identity and the truth of many questionable acts was buried in an unmarked grave. Alone, it would eat at her, but the thought of what Piper would think of her these things was rending.

Her brooding distracted her from the bath. While her thoughts consumed her, Piper began to wash Hazel hair. Shampoo was hardly seen in the Wasteland and probably expired by this point, so the soap at to serve in its stead. Still, it felt good. Probably would’ve felt better if she were paying attention.

Before long, Hazel was just laid in the bath, more to laze than clean herself. Piper allowed her to stay there, but the water was starting to cool. Before long, it would lack the comfort that she loved about it. She dragged herself out and put on a bathrobe and slippers she found by the tub. She sauntered up the stares to find Piper on the bed, playing a game on he girlfriend’s Pip-Boy. Badly.

“How do you like this game?” the reporter asked, panicked, but trying to play it off.

“I don’t usually play it,” Hazel kindly answered.

As Piper threw the Pip-Boy to the side at a game over, Hazel laid herself beside her. She was awkward to curl up with her, as she was still uncomfortable with what she’d done in Far Harbor. Maybe if she wouldn’t hate her for it, but that was unlikely. In Hazel’s experience, everyone judges, whether to say it or not.

“You were gone for a long time,” Piper said, “Where’d you go?”

Hazel could still dodge this. “I was someplace up north.”

“With Nick?” she asked, “He usually doesn’t do jobs that far from Diamond City.”

She was starting to get close. “We went to this place called Far Harbor,” Hazel eked out, “It was pretty far.”

Piper chuckled, probably at the accidently put. “What did you do up there?” she asked.

“Missing person,” Hazel replied a little too quickly, “She’s back with her parents now.”

“Good,” the reporter said, “I guess it must’ve been pretty far, with you being gone for weeks.”

“No,” Hazel corrected, holding back tears as best she could, “We took a boat. It’s everything else that took so long.”

She didn’t want to say anything else. Anything more and Piper would surely know everything. She didn’t want to lose the best thing to happen to her since before the War to go away. Still, she couldn’t stomach holding it back.

And so, she blurted everything out. Her emotions couldn’t restrain themselves and the rotten things she did up there were laid naked before her. She cried for what she did and what she might lose. There was nothing after this that she could see. Truly, there was nothing she hold back.

Piper just looked at the confessor, blankly. No visible judgement, no naked hatred. Pity, perhaps, but no ill will to what she had done. Hazel’s lover just held her in her arms. The laid there until she felt sleep coming to take her. Now she could rest easy, if not with what she did, but that she would at least not lose her new love to it.


End file.
